Role and Responsibilities of the Board of UKA
Role and Responsibilities of the Board of UKA
The Board of UKA has the same legal responsibilities and duties as the Board of any other limited company. It decides the strategy of the company, approves long- and short-term plans and budgets, and monitors activity and financial outcomes. It also oversees the controls over financial and legal probity, health and safety and the proper treatment of the employees.
The Chairman of the Board runs the meetings and has an oversight over the corporate governance processes. He also acts as a senior-level public face of the company and as a mentor for the Chief Executive.
The Chief Executive is also a director of the company and has responsibility for implementing the strategy and decisions of the Board and managing the company and the employees.
The British Athletics General Counsel also fulfils the role of Company Secretary. As an Executive, he reports to the Chief Executive Officer.
The British Athletics Head of Finance attends Board meetings to report to the Board in relation to finance matters.
The other directors are known as Non-Executive Directors, as they do not have direct executive roles. They do, however, have the same responsibilities as the other directors for the actions and probity of the company. They are chosen for a mix of athletics and business expertise and involvement, and each works with one of the strategic business units within the company to review their activities and to add expertise and knowledge to the activity.
The UK Athletics Board code of conduct document can be found here.
Ian Beattie – Chairman
Ian is a Chartered Accountant and Chief Operating Officer of Lindsays LLP, a firm of solicitors. He was Chair of Scottish Athletics from 2012 to 2021, and has previously served as Vice Chair of Sportscotland and Vice Chair of the Scottish Association for Mental Health. Ian has been involved in club athletics as an endurance athlete for more than 30 years and is a member of Edinburgh-based Harmeny AC. He is qualified as a Coach in Running Fitness and as an Endurance Official. He has completed more than 100 marathons and 100 half marathons, with PBs of 2.56 and 1.17 respectively, and is Race Director of the 95-mile West Highland Way Race. In 2020, Ian was awarded an MBE for services to athletics.
Jack Buckner – CEO
Before commencing the role in 2022, Jack was CEO at British Swimming, where he oversaw a hugely successful Team GB performance at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021. The Olympic team claimed a best-ever haul of eight medals with 4 golds, including Adam Peaty and Tom Daley, as well as a world record in the mixed relay. The Paralympic team was the most successful sport competing for ParalympicsGB with 26 medals won at the Aquatics centre. Jack was the CEO of British Triathlon before British Swimming. During his time there, British Triathlon led the world with their best ever results at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics, featuring the Brownlee brothers, Vicky Holland and Non Stanford.
Jack is a former European 5000m champion and two-time Olympian. He was one of Britain’s leading distance runners and his times remain in the top 5 on the UK all-time list over 30 years later. His championship record from the European 5000m in Stuttgart has now lasted 36 years. He also medalled in the World championships and commonwealth games over 5000m. After retiring from running, Jack worked for adidas in the UK, Germany and the USA. Over a 10 year period in marketing, his roles included Head of International Business Units and Marketing Director for adidas USA. After a spectacularly unsuccessful venture as an apple orchard owner in New Zealand, Jack returned to the UK where prior to British Triathlon and British Swimming CEO roles, he worked as a Strategic Lead for Sport England. Jack has also spent 8 years as a NED for a NHS Foundation Trust hospital and is a current Trustee of the National Forest. He has a lifelong commitment to sport from grassroots to the elite.
Jennifer Thomas – Independent Non-Executive Director & Senior Independent Director
Jennifer Thomas is Managing Director of Enterprise & Strategy Communications at Fitch Group, leading Fitch Group’s enterprise communications function.
Jennifer has more than 25 years’ experience across communications and inclusion, with a career spanning senior leadership roles in both internal and external communications, as well as the development and delivery of equity, diversity and inclusion strategies across global organisations. Prior to joining Fitch, she was Global Head of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at LSEG, where she led the firm’s worldwide EDI strategy. She was also Head of Communications for LSEG’s Data & Analytics division.
Jennifer also serves as Senior Independent Director at England Netball, as well as a Non-Executive Director at Personal Assets Trust plc and EPoC. She previously competed as a 400m runner and hurdler for England.
Jennifer holds a dual BA in Economics and Dance from Scripps College, California, USA.
Paul Lawther – Vice-Chair of Athletics Northern Ireland
Paul Lawther is the vice-chair of Athletics Northern Ireland and has represented Great Britain at both Junior and Senior level. He has competed at the World Student Games, the European Junior Championships and has represented Northern Ireland at two Commonwealth Games and at several World Cross-country Championships. Paul was a founder member of Annadale Striders, and in recent years, has become coach to a number of athletes at different levels.
He was a teacher for some twenty years before moving to Belfast Education and Library Board, where he held a senior role as an Education Officer providing support and advice to underperforming schools and for the training of governors. He also provided training for Early Professional Development Programmes for newly qualified teachers, the appointment of Vice Principals and Principals and area planning for local schools.
Gary Shaughnessy – Chair of England Athletics
Gary Shaughnessy is Chairman of Parkinson’s UK, England Athletics and the Zurich Foundation.
Over the last 35 years, he has held senior roles in financial services, culminating in being the CEO of EMEA for Zurich Insurance and a member of the company’s Group Executive until 2019.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015. When he stepped back from full-time commercial life, Gary took on the role of Chair at Parkinson’s UK, having already been a trustee of the charity. He has also continued to be Chair of the Z Zurich Foundation, a charitable trust focusing on climate resilience, mental well-being and social equity programmes across the globe.
In September 2021, Gary was appointed as Chairman of England Athletics. This reflects a lifelong engagement in community sport as well as a strong belief in the power of sport to support social mobility and inclusion and physical and mental well-being. Gary also combines sport with community engagement to raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s UK and other Charities.
David Ovens – Chair of Scottish Athletics
David is Joint Managing Director of Archangel Investors, a leading venture capital business based in Edinburgh. He is an experienced corporate financier, having previously worked for HSBC Investment Bank in London and Noble Grossart in Edinburgh. He is Chair of SIS Ventures (a subsidiary of Social Investment Scotland) and a non-executive director of LINC Scotland, the trade association for early stage risk capital investors in Scotland.
David is a member of Fife AC, where he acts as coaching assistant to Steve Doig’s training group. He previously competed as a middle distance track athlete for Law and District and Pitreavie AAC.
He is married to Hayley, who competed for Scotland over 1500m and was a finalist in the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006, as well as a member of Team GB for the World Indoor Championships in 2003. He has two daughters, Holly and Millie, who both compete on the track for Fife AC.
Nigel Walker – Chair of Welsh Athletics
Nigel Walker OBE is an experienced sports leader and former international athlete and rugby player.
Between 1983 and 1992, Nigel represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland 30 times in the 110m hurdles. He competed at the 1984 Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, and won bronze medals at both the World Indoor and European Indoor Championships in 1987. He later played rugby for Wales, earning 17 international caps.
Nigel has held senior leadership positions across British sport, including Interim CEO of Basketball England, Acting CEO and Executive Director of Rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union, and National Director of the English Institute of Sport. During his 11 years at the English Institute of Sport, he oversaw the delivery of sport science, medicine, technology and engineering services to Team GB and ParalympicsGB.
Earlier in his career, Nigel held several senior roles at BBC Wales, including Head of Sport. His board experience includes UK Sport, Commonwealth Games England, the ECB’s Nominations Committee and the Birmingham 2022 Operations Board. He was awarded an OBE for services to sport in 2019.
Mike Whittingham – Independent Non-Executive Director
Mike Whittingham serves as a Non-Executive Director (Performance) at UK Athletics. He has held several senior leadership positions in high-performance sport, including roles at UK Sport, the Scottish Institute of Sport and sportscotland. He has also managed his own sports consultancy company, Direction Sportive.
As Executive Director of the Scottish Institute of Sport and Director of High Performance for sportscotland, Mike oversaw a successful period for Scottish sport, including a series of best-ever performances at the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and Commonwealth Games between 2010 and 2020.
A former international athlete, Mike represented both GB & NI and England in the 400m hurdles, 800m and 4x400m between 1973 and 1984, finishing fourth at the 1984 Commonwealth Games. He went on to become a national coach for the 400m and 400m hurdles, coaching several leading British athletes. One of his career highlights was serving as National Coach to the 4x400m relay squad that won gold at the 1991 World Championships.
Mike also has experience in sports broadcasting, having worked as an expert summariser for BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports, BBC World Service, Eurosport and OBS.
He holds a BA (Hons) in French from Leicester University, a PGCE from Loughborough University and a Master’s in Recreation Management.
Wendy Sly MBE – Independent Non-Executive Director
Wendy Sly MBE serves as a Non-Executive Director at UK Athletics and is Managing Director of Publishing at AW Magazine / 21Six Group.
Wendy competed internationally on the roads in the USA and on the track in Europe. Honours from her athletics career include an Olympic silver medal at Los Angeles in 1984 and a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982, as well as bronze at the European Indoor Championships and gold at the World 10km Road Championships.
After ending her running career, Wendy moved into media and publishing, building a career spanning more than 30 years. In 2015, she joined The Great Run Company as Managing Director for Publishing, a role which included heading up Athletics Weekly. Following its move to 21Six Group, Wendy continued to lead the team at AW, which developed into a monthly magazine with a growing social media following.
Wendy has remained involved in the sport through British cross-country team management and mentoring young athletes.
She holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Loughborough University.
Anna Blackman – Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
Anna Blackman is Chief Operating Officer of CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, a role she was appointed to permanently in January 2025 after supporting the leadership team in an interim capacity during 2024.
Anna spent the majority of her career at PwC, where she was a Partner with more than 20 years’ experience in risk and governance, with a focus on audit, transformation, transactions and complex programmes. She acted as both external and internal auditor across healthcare, local government and the not-for-profit sectors, and also served as Chief Operating Officer of PwC’s Government business.
Since leaving PwC, Anna has focused on working with impact-driven organisations. She spent two years as Chief Operating Officer of FormScore, a mental health and wellbeing tech business, and has supported Naked Sprout, a company producing sustainable toilet roll.
Anna is passionate about working with organisations that want to have a positive impact on society. She was drawn to UK Athletics having seen the power of sport to strengthen local communities through a friend who is a wheelchair rugby Paralympian. Anna joined the UK Athletics Board in May 2026, after chairing the Audit & Risk Committee at UK Athletics for three years.
Anna is qualified through the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and holds a BA (Hons) in Geography.
Andrew Pozzi – Chair of the Athletes’ Commission
Andrew is a three-time Olympian having competed in London (2012), Rio de Janeiro (2016) and Tokyo (2021) – where he made the final of the 110m Hurdles. During a 12-year professional career, Andrew was World and European Champion in the 60m Hurdles. Boasting a broad scope of experience, Andrew worked with a number of the World’s most decorated and celebrated coaches, training in different countries and in different languages.
Since 2024, Andrew has been developing his commercial experience as an account manager at the forefront of the tech industry, specialising in supporting UK Public Sector organisations. As Chair of the UKA Athletes’ Commission, Andrew is perfectly placed to advocate for the athlete voice and ensure that UKA and their athletes always remain closely aligned and driving performance forward.
Edleen John FCIPD – Senior Independent Consultant and NED
Edleen John FCIPD is a member of the UK Athletics Board, serving on both the Audit & Risk and Nominations Sub-Committees. An award-winning senior executive, board advisor, and consultant, her career spans corporate and public affairs, international relations, and HR and people culture.
Prior to her governance career, Edleen broke barriers in financial and professional services holding leadership roles at Morgan Stanley and KPMG. Within sports administration, she served on the Senior Management Team at The Football Association (The FA) as Director of International Relations, Corporate Affairs, and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI).
As a versatile portfolio leader, Edleen operates across Non-Executive Director (NED), Senior Independent Director (SID), and Committee Chair capacities. Her extensive sports governance includes serving as Co-Chair of British Dodgeball, SID for the Amateur Football Alliance, and Co-Chair of Women In Football’s EDI Advisory Group. She also acts as an advisor for Crystal Palace FC, Pro Ref’s Core X Programme, and sits on the ISCF Steering Committee.
Her governance extends beyond sport and her current regulatory and public sector influence includes a ministerial public appointment to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB), the Advisory Committee for England at Ofcom, and the Executive Investment Committee for Impact on Urban Health. She is also an International Trustee for Restless Development and a local school governor for a disabled specialist school.
She is a Chartered CIPD Fellow and is a University of Cambridge alumna with a Master’s degree from King’s College London.